Maternal PTSD following Exposure to the Wenchuan Earthquake Is Associated with Impaired Mental Development of Children.

The purpose of this study was to explore whether earthquake-related maternal Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is associated with impaired development of infants. Participants included 86 women who were pregnant during or after the earthquake in Ningqiang county, and their children. Data were collected from February to March of 2012. PTSD questionnaire (PTSD Checklist, Civilian Version (PCL-C)) was used to measure the effect of the earthquake on mothers, and that the scores greater than 50 were used to indicate presence of PTSD. Each child was assessed using the mental Developmental Screening Test (DST) according to age. Among the 86 women, PTSD scores equal to or greater than 50 accounted for 20.93%. Among the 86 children, 25.60% of development quotient (DQ) scores and 19.80% of mental index (MI) scores were less than 85. The correlation coefficient analysis showed that PTSD scores were inversely related to DQ and MI scores. Maternal PTSD following earthquake exposure is associated with relatively lower intellectual development in children age 0-3 years. Further research is needed to assess the persistent effects of this influence on offspring of mothers exposed to earthquake

Efficient Quasi-2D Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes Enabled by Regulating Phase Distribution with a Fluorinated Organic Cation

Metal halide perovskites have become a research highlight in the optoelectronic field due to their excellent properties. The perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) have achieved great improvement in performance in recent years, and the construction of quasi-2D perovskites by incorporating large-size organic cations is an effective strategy for fabricating efficient PeLEDs. Here, we incorporate the fluorine meta-substituted phenethylammonium bromide (m-FPEABr) into CsPbBr3 to prepare quasi-2D perovskite films for efficient PeLEDs, and study the effect of fluorine substitution on regulating the crystallization kinetics and phase distribution of the quasi-2D perovskites. It is found that m-FPEABr allows the transformation of low-n phases to high-n phases during the annealing process, leading to the suppression of n = 1 phase and increasing higher-n phases with improved crystallinity. The rational phase distribution results in the formation of multiple quantum wells (MQWs) in the m-FPEABr based films. The carrier dynamics study reveals that the resultant MQWs enable rapid energy funneling from low-n phases to emission centers. As a result, the green PeLEDs achieve a peak external quantum efficiency of 16.66% at the luminance of 1279 cd m−2. Our study demonstrates that the fluorinated organic cations would provide a facile and effective approach to developing high-performance PeLEDs

Preparation, Characterization, and In Vitro Release of Curcumin-Loaded IRMOF-10 Nanoparticles and Investigation of Their Pro-Apoptotic Effects on Human Hepatoma HepG2 Cells

Curcumin (CUR) has a bright future in the treatment of cancer as a natural active ingredient with great potential. However, curcumin has a low solubility, which limits its clinical application. In this study, IRMOF-10 was created by the direct addition of triethylamine, CUR was loaded into IRMOF-10 using the solvent adsorption method, and the two were characterized using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TG) methods, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. We also used the MTT method, 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining, the annexin V/PI method, cellular uptake, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) to perform a safety analysis and anticancer activity study of IRMOF-10 and CUR@IRMOF-10 on HepG2 cells. Our results showed that CUR@IRMOF-10 had a CUR load of 63.96%, with an obvious slow-release phenomenon. The CUR levels released under different conditions at 60 h were 33.58% (pH 7.4) and 31.86% (pH 5.5). Cell experiments proved that IRMOF-10 was biologically safe and could promote curcumin entering the nucleus, causing a series of reactions, such as an increase in reactive oxygen species and a decrease in the mitochondrial membrane potential, thereby leading to cell apoptosis. In summary, IRMOF-10 is an excellent drug carrier and CUR@IRMOF-10 is an effective anti-liver cancer sustained-release preparation

Chi-square statistics for PTSD, DQ, and MI scores

<p>Chi-square statistics for PTSD, DQ, and MI scores</p

Chi-square statistics of socio-demographic, pregnancy-related and child-related characteristics for DQ and MI.

<p>Chi-square statistics of socio-demographic, pregnancy-related and child-related characteristics for DQ and MI.</p

Correlation coefficients between all outcome and predictor variables

<p>Correlation coefficients between all outcome and predictor variables</p